Half Life: The Deal
by thevortigaunt
Summary: This starts off as an original story about a woman named Jane Loch, and her two kids. Taking place only a few days after the Black Mesa incident. It eventually ties into the Half Life story, but always from the perspective of Jane and the future tragedies she has to face. She'll eventually make a deal with a mysterious man.


**Author's Note: **I do not own any of the content of the Half Life universe, this belongs to Valve. All that belongs to me are the characters, and places that do not actually exist in the Half Life universe.

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It was black. Everywhere was darkness. She felt strange, there wasn't any ground to touch. Her body was floating in the air. The ground may not have been there, but it didn't stop the sound of footsteps getting louder. It was emanating from behind her. Getting closer and closer. Her body was stiff and couldn't move herself even an inch forward. Turning around was impossible as well, but she would have been too chicken-shit to see what the source was anyways. Suddenly the footsteps ceased, and she felt a presence behind her.

They started to speak in a language she could not understand. Languages were usually something she was good at guessing, but this was new to her. It was terrifying. Then it spoke something familiar to her.

"Jane…" the voice drew out her name with a gurgled sound and she felt it echo through the darkness.

Jolting out of bed, she was sweating, her eyes darting around the room. She was safe in her room. Only a nightmare. The sound of violent wind was rushing through the cracks of the window, she wondered how long these weird storms would last. Especially since the power had been out ever since they started a few days ago. It was forecast to be good weather this week. The diffused sunlight was just starting to seep through the clouds.

A knock on the door made her jump again, a tired little voice came from behind it "Mommy! I had a bad dream." Jane rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock on the wall. It read '4:36 am'.

She called to her daughter "Why don't you come in and tell me about it sweetie?", whilst still rubbing her eyes.

The little girl bolted through the door, not bothering to make sure it was shut properly, and launched herself onto the bed. Immediately she hid under the covers.

Jane sighed, went under the covers with her and said, "You know you're getting a little too old to be running in here after having a bad dream, right Sarah?"

Her daughter shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed "I don't know…it was one of the worst dreams I've had in forever! I'm only eight mommy." she exclaimed.

Then Jane wrapped her arms around Sarah and brought her closer in, trying to make her feel safe. It made her feel safe too, still recovering from her own nightmare.

"I know you're only eight, but you know I'm not always going to be here when you've had a bad dream, right? When you're all grown up and have a house of your own, mommy won't be there." she said as Sarah looked up at her in sadness

"You have to learn to be brave sweetheart." trying to talk with as much encouragement as she could muster. The little girl sighed and nodded sadly.

She kissed her daughter on the forehead and asked, "So, what was your bad dream about?". Sarah started with some hesitation in her voice "It…was dark, like when I close my eyes to sleep, but I could still see my body. I couldn't move, th-then a scary man started talking to me…" she increased the grip she had on her mom.

Jane wanted to speak but felt the words couldn't come out. Did her daughter have a similar nightmare to her? Before she could ask her about it, a slamming noise came from downstairs. Wind rushed through the house making an eerie sound. It sounded like the porch door had opened. Sarah squealed, and squeezed her mother.

Then her daughter gasped "What if it's daddy?"

The thought had crossed Jane's mind briefly, but he wasn't meant to be back from the city until the end of the week. A few days from now. Maybe it would have been better for her and the family to be living in the city during the storms, instead of the middle of nowhere. She got out from under the covers and grabbed a flashlight out of the bedside table. It was getting lighter outside, but inside the house was still dark.

"Sarah, stay here. I'm just going downstairs I'll be righ-" she was interrupted by Sarah "Please don't leave me on my own!"

She could see the worry on her daughter's face. Jane put her hands on Sarah's shoulder's "I will be right back. Everything's fine. It's probably just the storm opening the door."

Another noise came from downstairs, this time it sounded like glass shattering. Before the scared girl could say anything else, her mother turned on the flashlight, opened the door and braved the darkness.


End file.
